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ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



An Address by William McKinley, Before the Mar- 
quette Club, Chicago, "''^r-vARY 12, 1896. 



Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Marque l ^ ^vd My 
Fellow Citize is: 

It requires the h)'. St graeiou- i>*^gep in the world's his- 
tory to record what one Amei.cau {■ -hieved. The story of 
this simple life is t' ;tory of a plain, honest, manly ciiizen, 
true patriot, and proiound state<^man, who believing with all 
the strength of his mighty soul in the institutions of his 
country, won becau*' ' liem the highest place in its gov- 
ernment— then., fni^fj,,-. '^cious sacrifice to the Union he held 
so dear,. \^,' , nee had spared his ^^fe long enough 

to sav. 

We meet to-ni., > > honor to this immortal hero, 
Abraham Lincoln,whu^c ik-Iu v-ments have he' •..tned human 
aspirations and broadened the field of oppoi. unity to the 
races of men. While the .party with which we stand, and 
for which he stood, can justly claim him, and without dis- 
pute can boast the distinction of being the first to honor and 
trust bam, his fame has leaped the bounds of party and 
country, and now belongs to mankind and the ages. 

AVhat w^ere the traits of character which made Abraham 
Lincoln prophet and master, without a rival, in the greatest 
crisis in our history ? What gave him such mighty power ? 

1 



Lincoln had little or no instruction in the common school; 
but, as the oniineut Dr. Cuyler has said, he was graduated 
from " the grand college of free labor, whose works were the 
flat-boat, the farm, and the backwoods lawyer's office." He 
had a broad comprehension of the central idea of popular 
government. The Declaration of Independence was his 
hand-book; time and again he expressed his belief in freedom 
and equality. On July 1, 1854, he wrote: 

"Most governments have been baseJ, practically, on the denial 
of the equal rights of men. Ours began by affirming tliuse rights. 
They said ' .some men are too ignorant and vicious to sbare in gov- 
ernment.' ' Possibly so,' said we, 'and by your system you would 
always keep them ignorant and vicious. We proposed to give all a 
chance ; and we expected the weak to grow stronger, the ignorant 
wiser, and all better and happier together.' We made the experi- 
ment, and the fruit is before us. Look at it, think of it ! Look at it 
in its aggregate grandeur, extent of country, and numbers of popu- 
lation. " 

Lincoln believed in the uplifting influences of free govern- 
ment, and that by giving all a chance we could get higher 
average results for the people than where governments are 
exclusive and opportunities are limited to the few. No 
American ever did so much as he to enlarge these oppor- 
tunities, or tear- down the barriers which excluded a free 
participation in them. In his first message to Congress, at 
the special session convening on Julj'^ 4, 1861, he gave signal 
evidence of his faith in our institutions, and their elevating 
influences, in most impressive language. He said: 

" It may be affirmed without extravagance that the free insti- 
tutions we enjoy have developed the powers and improved the condi- 
tion of our Avhole people beyond any example in the world. Of 
this we now have a striking and an impressive illustration. So large 
an army as the Government has now -on foot was never before known 
without a soldier in it but who has taken his place there of his own 
free choice." [Then what followed in his message is, to me, the 
highest and most touching tribute ever spoken or written of our 
matchless Volunteer Army of 18()l-'65 by any American statesman, 
soldier, or citizen from that day to this:] " But more than this, 
there are many single regiments whose members, one and another, 
possess full practical knowledge of all the arts, sciences, and pro- 
fessions, and whatever else, whether useful or elegant, is known in 

4 



I 



the world; and there is scarcely one from which there could not be 
selected a President, a Cabinet, a Congress, and perhaps a Court 
abundantly competent to administer the Government itself." 

What a noble, self-sacrificing army of freemen he de- 
scribes ! The like of it mankind never saAv before and will 
not look upon soon again. Their service and sacrifice were 
not in vain — the Union is stronger, freer and better than ever 
before because they lived, and the peace, fraternity and 
harmony, which Lincoln prayed might come, and which he 
prophesied would come, is happily here. And now that the 
wounds of the war are healed, may we not, to-night, with 
grateful hearts, -resolve, in the words of Lincoln, that we 
will "care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for 
his widow, and his orphan." 

Lincoln's antecedent life seems to have been one of un- 
conscious preparation for the great fespousibilities which 
were committed to him in 1860. As one of the masses him- 
self, and living with them, sharing their feelings, and sym- 
pathizing with their daily trials, their hopes and aspirations, 
he was better fitted to lead them than any other man of his 
age. He recognized more clearly than any one else that the 
plain people he met in his daily life, and knew so familiarly, 
were, according to the dictates of justice and our theory of 
government, its ultimate rulers and the arbiters of its des- 
tiny. He knew this not as a theory, but from his own person- 
al experience. 

Born in poverty, and surrounded by obstacles on every 
hand seemingly insurmountable but for the intervening hand 
of Providence, Lincoln grew every year into greater and 
grander intellectual power and vigor. His life, until he was 
twelve years old, was spent either in a " half -faced camp " or 
cabin. Yet amid such surroundings the boy learned to read, 
write, and cipher, to think, declaim, and speak, in a manner 
far beyond his years and time. All his days in the school 
house " added together would not make a single year." But 
every day of his life from infancy to manhood was a constant 
drill in the school of nature and experience. His study of 
books and newspapers was beyond that of any other person 

5 



in his town or neighborhood, and perhaps of his county or 
section. He did not read many books, but he learned more 
from them than any otlior reader. It was strength of body 
as well as of mind that made Lincoln's career possible. Ill 
success only spurred him into making himself more worthy 
of trust and c'onfid<'nce. Nothing could daunt him. He 
might have but a single tow-linen shirt, or only one pair of 
jeans pantaloons, he often did not know where his next dollar 
was to come from, but he mastered English grammar and 
composition, arithmetic, geometry, surveying, logic, and the 

law. 

How well he mastered the art of expression, is shown by 
the incident of the Yale professor who heard his Cooper Insti- 
tute speech and called on him at his hotel, to inquire where 
he had learned hi^ matchless power as a public speaker. The 
modest country lawyer was in turn surprised to be suspected 
of possessing unusual talents as an orator, and could only 
answer that his sole training had been in the school of ex- 
perience. 

Eight years' service in the Illinois Legislature, two years 
in Congress and nearly thirty ye-ars political campaigning, in 
the most exciting period of American politics, gave scope for 
the development of his powers, and that tact, readiness, and 
self-reliance, which were invaluable to a modest, backward 
man, such as Lincoln naturally was. Added to these quali- 
ties, he had the genius, which communizes, which puts a 
man on a level, not only with the highest, but with the lowest 
of his kind. By dint of patient industry, and by using 
wisely his limited opportunities, he became the most popular 
orator, the best political manager, and the ablest leader of 
his party in Illinois. 

But the best training he had for the Presidency, after 
all, was his twenty-three years' arduous experience as a law- 
yev traveling the circuit of the courts of his district and 
State. Here he met in forensic contests, and frequently de- 
feated some of the most powerful legal minds of the West. 
In the higher courts he won still greater distinction in the 
important cases committed to his charge. 

6 



With this preparation, it is not surprising that Lincoln' 
entered, upon the Presidency peculiarly well equipped tor its 
vast responsibilities. His contemporaries, however, did not 
realize this. The leading statesmen of the country were not 
prepossessed in his favor. They appear to have had no con- 
ception of the remarkable powers latent beneath that un- 
couth and rugged exterior. It seemed to them strangely out 
of place that the people should at. this, the greatest crisis of 
their history, entrust the supreme executive power of the 
Nation to one whom the}'' presumptuously called " this igno- 
rant rail-splitter from the. prairies of Illinois." Many pre- 
dicted failure from the beginning. 

Lincoln was essentially a man of peace. He inherited 
from his Quaker forefathers an intense opposition to war. 
During his brief service in Congress he found occasion more 
than once to express it. He opposed the Mexican war from 
principle but voted men and supplies after hostilities actual- 
ly began. In one of his few speeches in the House, he char- 
acterized military glory as "that rainbow, that rises in 
showers of blood — that serpent that charms but to destroy." 
When he became responsible for the welfare of the country, 
he was none the less earnest for peace. He felt that even in 
the most righteous cause, war is a fearful thing, and he was* 
actuated by the feeling that it ought not to be begun except 
as a last resort, and then only after it had been precipitated 
by the enemies of the country. He said in Philadelphia, on 
February 22, 1861: 

" There is no need of bloodshed and war. There is no necessity 
for it. I am not in favor of such a course ; and I may say in advance 
that there will be no bloodshed unless it is forced upon the Govern- 
ment. The Government will not use force unless force is used 
against it." 

In the selection of his Cabinet, he at once showed his 
greatness and magnanimity. His principal rivals for the 
Presidential nomination were invited to seats in his council 
chamber. No one but a great man, conscious of his own 
strength, would have done this. It was soon perceived that 
his greatness was in no sense obscured by the presence of 

7 



the distinguished men who sat about him. The most gifted 
statesmen of the country: Seward, Chase, Cameron, Stanton, 
BJair, Bates, Welles, Fessenden, and Dennison, some of 
-whom had been leaders in the Senate of the United States, 
•eomposed that historic Cabinet, and the man who had been 
sneered at as "the rail-splitter" suffered nothing by such 
association and comparison. He was a leader in fact as well 
as name. 

Magnanimity was one of Lincoln's most striking traits. 
Patriotism moved him at every step. At the beginning of 
the war he placed at t'. e head of three most important 
railitar3^ departments three of his political opponents — 
Patterson, Butler and McClellan. He did not propose to 
make it a partisan war. He sought by every means in his 
power to enlist all who were patriots. 

In his message of July 4, 1861, he stated his purpose in 
these words: 

" I desire to preserve the Government that it may be adminis- 
tered for all, as it was administered by the men who made it. On 
the side of the Union it is a struggle to maintain m the world that 
form and substance of Government whope leading object is to elevate 
the condition of men, lilt artiticial burdens from all shoulders and 
clear the paths of laudable pursuits for all, to afford all an unfet- 
tered start and a fair chance in the race of life. This is the leading 
object of the Government for whose existence we contend." 

Many people Avere impatient at Lincoln's conservatism. 
He gave the South every chance possible. He pleaded with 
them with an earnestness that was pathetic. He recognized 
that the South was not alone to blame for the existence of 
slavery, but that the sin was a National one. He sought 
to impress upon the South that he would not use his office 
as President to take away from them any constitutional 
right, great or small. 

In his first inaugural he addressed the men of the South, 
as well as the North, as his "countrymen," one and all, and 
with an outburst of indescribable tenderness, exclaimed: 
" We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be 
enemies." And then in those wondrously sweet and touching 
words which even yet thrill the heart, he said: 

8 



" Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds' 
of affection. The mystic chords of" memory, stretching from every 
battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone 
all over this broad land, wiU yet swell the chorus of the Union when 
again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our 
nature." 

But his words were unheeded. The mighty war eanie 
with its dreadful train. Knowing no wrong, he dreaded no 
evil for himself. He had done all he could to save the coun- 
tiy ^J peaceful means. He had entreated and expostulated, 
now he would do and dare. He had in words of solemn im- 
port warned tlie men of the South. He had appealed to their 
patriotism by the sacred memories of the battle-fields of the 
Revolution, on which the patriot blood of their ancestors had 
been so bravely shed, not to break up the Union. Yet all in 
vain. "Both j)arties deprecated war; but one would make 
war rather than let the Nation survive; and the other would 
accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came." 

Lincoln did all he could to avert it, but there was no hesi- 
tation on his part when the sword of rebellion flashed from 
its scabbard. He was from that moment until the close of 
his life unceasingly devoted and consecrated to the great 
purpose of saving the Union. All other matters he regarded 
as trivial, and every movement, of whatever character, wheth- 
er important or unimportant of itself, was bent to that end. 

The world now regards with wonder the infinite patience, 
gentleness and kindness, Avith which he bore the terrible bur- 
dens of that four years' struggle. Humane, forgiving and 
long-suffering himself, he was always especially tender and 
considerate of the poor, and in his treatment of them was fviU 
of those "kind little acts which are of the same blood as great 
and holy deeds." As Charles Sumner so Avell said: "With 
him as President, the idea of republican institutions, where 
no place is too high for the humblest, was perpetually mani- 
fest, so that his simple presence was a proclamation of the 
equality of all men." 

During the whole of the struggle, he was a tower of 
strength to the Union. Whether in defeat or victory, he 

9 



kept right on, dismayed at nothing, and never to be diverted 
from the pathway of duty. Always cool and determined, all 
learned to gain renewed courage, calmness and wisdom from 
him, and to lean upon his strong arm for support. The 
proud designation, " Father of His Country," was not more 
.appropriately bestowed upon Washington, than the atfection- 
-ate title "Father Abraham" was given to Lincoln b^^ the 
soldiers and lo3'-al people of the North. 

The crowning glory of Lincoln's administration, and the 
igreatest executive act in American history, was his immortal 
Proclamation of Emancipation. Perhaps more clearlv than 
«.nyone else Lincoln had realized years before he was called 
to the Presidency, that the country could not continue half 
slave and half free. He declared it before Seward pro- 
claimed the "irrepressible conflict." The contest between 
freedom and slavery was inevitable ; it was written in the 
stars. The Nation must be either all slave, or all free. 
Lincoln with almost supernatural prescience foresaw it. His 
prophetic vision is manifested through all his utterances, 
notably in the gresfct debate between himself and Douglas. 
To him was given the duty and responsibility of making that 
great classic of liberty, the Declaration of L-.dependence, no 
longer an empty promise, but a glorious fulfillment. 

Many long and thorny steps were to be taken before this 
great act of justice could be performed. Patience and for- 
bearance had to be exercised. It had to be demonstrated 
that the Union could be saved in no other way. Lincoln, 
TQUch as he abhorred slaverj^, felt that his chief duty was to 
save the Union, under the Constitution, and within the Con- 
stitution. He did not assume the duties of his great office 
with the purpose of abolishing slaver}^, nor changing the 
•Constitution, but as a servant of the Constitution and the 
laws of the country then existing. In a speech delivered in 
Ohio, in 1859, he said: "The people of the United States 
are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts — 
not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men 
who would overthrow the Constitution." 

10 



This was the principle which governed him, and which 
he applied in his official conduct when he reached the Presi- 
dency. We now know that he had emancipation constantly 
in his mind's eye for neai'ly two years after his first inaugu- 
ration. It is true he said at the start, "I believe I have no 
lawful right to interfere with slaver}- where it now exists, 
and have no intention of doing so ; ." and that the public had 
little reason to think he was meditating general emancipation 
until he issued his preliminary proclamation, September 22, 
1862. 

Just a month before, exactly, he had written to the ed- 
itor of the New York Tribune : 

"My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to 
save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing 
any slave, I would do it ; if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, 
I would do it ; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving 
others alone, I would also do that." 

The diiference in his thought anol purpose about "the 
divine institution " is very apparent in these two expressions. 
Both were made in absolute honor and sincerity. Public sen- 
timent had undergone a great change, and Lincoln, valiant 
defender of the Constitution that he was, and faithful tribune 
of the people that he always was, changed with the peoj)le. 
The Avar had brought them and him to a nearer realization of 
our absolute dependence upon a Higher Power, and had 
quickened his conceptions of duty more acutely than the 
public could realize. The purposes of God, working through 
the ages, were perhaps more clearly revealed to him than to 
any other. 

Besides, it was as he himself once said : " It is a quality 
of revolutions not to go by old lines or old laws, but to break 
up both and make new ones." He was ''naturally' anti-slav- 
ery," and the determination he formed when as a young 
man he witnessed an auction in the slave shambles of New 
Orleans, never forsook him. It is recorded how his soul 
burned with indignation, and that he then exclaimed, " If I 
ever get a chance to hit that thing, I'll hit it hard." He "hit 
it hard" when as a member of the Illinois Legislature he pro- 

11 



tested tliat "the institution of slavery is founded on both 
injustice and bad policy." He " hit it hard" when as a mem- 
ber of Congress he "voted for the Wilmot Proviso as good as 
forty times." He "hit it hard" when he stumped his state 
against the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and on the direct issue 
carried Illinois in favor of the restriction of slavery by a 
majority of 4,414 votes. He "hit it hard" when he approved 
the law abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, an 
anti-slavery measure that he had voted for in Congress. He 
"hit it hard" when he signed the acts abolishing slavery in 
all the Territories, and for the repeal of the Fugitive Slave 
Law. But it still remained for him to strike slavery its 
death-blow. He did that in his glorious Proclamation, of 
Freedom. 

It was in this light that Lincoln himself viewed these 
great events. He wrote a mass-meeting of unconditional Un- 
ion men at Springfield, 111., August 26, 1863, as follows: 

" The emancipation policy and the use of colored troops consti- 
tute the heaviest blow yet dealt to the Rebellion, and at least one of 
these important successes could not have been achieved when it was 
but for the aid of black soldiers. * * * * xhe job was a 
great National one, and let none be banned who bore an honorable 
part in it. * * * Peace does not appear so distant as it did. 
I hope it will come soon, and come to stay ; and so come as to be 
worth the keeping in all future time. It will then have proved that 
among free men there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to 
the bullet, and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their 
case and pay the cost. And then there will be som.e black men who 
can remember that with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and steady 
eye, and well-poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to this 
great consummation, while I fear there will be some white ones 
unable to forget that with malignant heart aud deceitful speech they 
strove to hinder it." 

Secretary Seward tells how when he carried the historic 
Proclamation to the President for signature at noon on the 
first day of January, 1863, he said : "I have been shaking 
hands since nine o'clock this morning, and my right hand is 
almost paralyzed. If my name ever goes into history, it Avill 
be for this act, and m}^ whole soul is in it. If my hand 
trembles when I sign the Proclamation all who examine the 

12 



document hereafter, will say, 'he hesitated.'" He turned to 
the table, took up his pen and slowly, firmly wrote that 
^Abraham LincohC with which the whole world is now familiar. 
Then he looked up and said : "That will do." 

In all the long years of slavery agitation, unlike any of 
the other anti-slavery leaders, Lincoln always carried the 
people with him. In 1854 Illinois cast loose from her old 
Democratic moorings and followed his leadership in a most 
emphatic protest against the repeal of the Missouri Compro- 
mise. In 1858 the people of Illinois endorsed his opposition 
to the aggressions of slavery, in a state usually Democratic, 
even against so popular a leader as "the Little Giant." In 
1860 the whole country endorsed his position on slavery, even 
when the people were continually harangued that his election 
meant the dissolution of the Union. During the war the 
people advanced with him step by step to its final overthrow. 
Indeed, in the election of 1S64 the people not only endorsed 
emancipation, but went far towards recognizing the political 
equality of the negro. They heartilj^ justified the President 
in having enlisted colored soldiers to fight side by side with 
the white man in the noble cause of union and liberty. Aye, 
they did more, they endorsed his position on another and 
vastly more important phase of the race problem. They ap- 
proved his course as President in reorganizing the government 
of Louisiana, and a hostile press did not fail to call attention 
to the fact that this meant eventually negro suffrage in that 
state. 

Perhaps, however, it was not known then that Lincoln 
had written the new Free State Governor, on March 13, 1864, 
as follows : 

"Xow you are about to have a Cinveation, which, among other 
things, will probably detine tlie elective franchise. I barely sjggest 
for your private considfratiou, whether some of the colored people 
may not be let in — as for instince, the very intelligent, and especially 
tho.^e who have fought gallant!}'' in our ranks. They would probably 
help, in some trying time to come, to keep the jewel of liberty within 
the family of freedom." 

Lincoln had that happy, peculiar habit, which few public 
men have attained, of looking away from the deceptive and 

13 



misleading iutlueuces about him, and none are more deei^ptive 
than those of public life in our capitals, straight into tlie 
hearts of the people. He could not be deceived by the self- 
interested host of eager counselors who sought to enforce 
their own parti(nilar views upon him as the voice of the 
country. He chose to determine for himself v/hat the people 
were thinking about and wanting him to do, and no man ever 
lived who was a more accurate judge of their opinions and 
wishes. 

The battle of Gettysburg turned the scale of the war in 
favor of the Union, and it has always seemed to me most for- 
tunate that Lincoln declared for emancipation before rather 
than after that decisive contest. A later Proclamation might 
have been construed as a tame and cowardly perffyrmance, 
not a challenge of Truth to Error for mortal combat. The 
ground on which that battle was fought is held sacred by 
every friend of freedom. But important as the battle itself 
was the dedication of it as a National Cemetery is celebrated 
for a grander thing. The words Lincoln spoke there will live 
"until time shall be no more," through all eternity. Well 
may they be forever preserved on tablets of bronze upon the 
spot where he spoke, but how infinitely better it would be if 
they could find a permanent lodging place in tiie soul of every 
American! 

Lincoln was a man of moderation. He was neither an 
autocrat nor a tyrant. If he moved slowly sometimes, it was 
because it was better to move slowly, and, like the successful 
general that he was, he was only waiting for his reserves to 
come up. Possessing almost unlimited power, he y6t carried 
himself like one of the humblest of men. He weighed every 
subject. He considered and reflected upon every phase of 
public duty. He got the average judgment of the plain 
people. He had a high sense of justice, a clear understand- 
ing of the rights of others, and never needlessly inflicted an 
injury upon any man. 

He said, in response to a serenade, November 10, 1SG4, 
just after his triumphal election for a second term to the 
great office of President : 

14 



"Now that the election is over, may not all havina: a commoni 
interest reunite in a common effort to save our common country? 
For my own part, I have i-triven and shall strive to avoid placing any 
obstacle in the way. So long as I have been here I have not willingly 
planted a thorn in any man's bosom. While I am deeply sensible 
to the high con)p]iment of a re-election, and duly grateful, as I trust, 
to Almighty God for having directed my countryman to a right con- 
clusion, as I think, for their own good, it adds nothing: to my satis- 
faction that any other man may be disappointed or pained by the 
result.* 

It is pleasant to note that in the very last public speech 
by President Lincoln, on April 11, 1865, he uttered noble 
sentiments of charity and good-will similar to those of his 
sublime second inaugural, which were of peculiar interest to 
the people of the South. In discussing the questioi; of re- 
construction, he said : 

" We all agree that the seceded States, so called, are out of their 
proper practical relation with the Union, and that the sole object of 
the government, civil and military, in regard to those States, is to 
again get them into that proper practical relation. I believe that it 
is not only possible, but in fact easier, to do this without deciding or 
even considering whether these States have ever been out of the 
Union, than with it. Finding themselves safely at home, it would 
be utterly immaterial whether they had ever been abroad. Let us 
all join in doing the acts necessary to restoring the proper practical 
relations between these States and the Union, and each forever after 
innocently indulge his own opinion whether in doing the acts he 
brought the States from without into the Union, or only gave them 
proper assistance, they never havmg been out of it." 

Mr. President, it is not difficult to place a correct esti- 
mate upon the character of Lincoln. He was the greatest 
man of his time, especially approved of God for the work He 
gave him to do. History abundantly proves his superiority 
as a leader, and establishes his constant reliance upon a 
Higher Power for guidance and support. The tendency of 
this age is to exaggeration, but of Lincoln certainly none 
have spoken more highly than those who knew him best. 

A distinguished orator* of to-day has said: "Lincoln 
surpassed all orators in eloquence; all diplomatists in wis- 
dom; all statesmen in foresight; and the most ambitious in 
fame." 

*HoD. John J. Ingalls of Kansas. 

15 



This is in accord with the estimate of Stanton who pro- 
nounced him "the most perfect ruler of men the world had 
ever seen." 

Seward, too, declared Lincoln "a man of destiny, with 
character made and molded by Divine Power to save a nation 
from perdition." 

Oliver Wendell Holmes characterized him as "the true 
representative of this continent; an entirely public man; 
father of his country; the pulse of twenty millions throb- 
bing in his heart, the thought of their minds articulated by 
his tongue." 

Bancroft wisely observed : "Lincoln thought always of 
mankind, as well as his own country, and served human 
nature itself ; he finished a work which all time cannot over- 
throw." 

Sumner said that in Lincoln "the West spoke to the East, 
pleading for human rights, as declared by our fathers." 

Horace Greeley, in speaking of the events which led up 
to and embraced the Rebellion, declared : "Other men were 
helpful, and nobly did their part; yet, looking back through 
the lifting mists of those seven eventful, tragic, trying, glo- 
rious years, I clearly discern the one providential leader, the 
indispensable hero of the great drama, Abraham Lincoln." 

James Russell Lowell was quick to perceive and proclaim 
Lincoln's greatness. In December, 1863, in a review of the 
"President's Policy," in the Atlantic Monthly, he said : 
"Perhaps none of our Presidents since Washington has stood 
so firm in the confidence of the people as Lincoln, after three 
years' stormy administration. ***** 

A profound common sense is the best genius for statesmanship. 
Hitherto the wisdom of the President's measures has been 
justified by the fact that they always resulted in more firmly 
uniting public opinion." 

Lincoln is certainly the most sagacious and far-seeing 
statesman in the annals of American history. His entire 
public life justifies this estimate of him. It is notable that 
his stand upon all public questions in his earlier as well as 

16 



his later career stamp him as the wisest exponent of political 
truths "sve have ever had. 

Witnessing the Government as we do to-day, with its 
debt-increasing, bond-issuing, gold-depleting, labor-destroy- 
ing, low-tariff policy, with what mighty force the words of 
Lincoln, written more than half a centui-y ago, come to us in 
this hour and emergency! They read as if written for the 
living present, not for the forgotten past. Why, do you 
know, that as far back as March 1, 1843, at a Whig meeting 
in Springfield, Mr. Lincoln offered a series of resolutions re- 
lating to the tariff, which could well be accepted here to- 
night? They were then instantly and unanimously adopted, 
and Mr. Lincoln was himself appointed to prepare an "Ad- 
dress to the People of the State" upon the subjects which 
they embraced. Let me read from this Address his profound 
observations upon tariff and taxation and their relation to 
the condition of the country. 

"The first of our resolutions" said Mr. Lincoln, "declares a tariff 
of duties upon foreign importations, producing sufficient revenue for 
thii support of the General Government, and so adjusted as to pro- 
tect American industry, to be indispensably necessary to the prosper- 
ity of the American people; and the second declares direct taxation 
for a National revenue to be improper. 

"For several years past the revenues of the Government have 
been unequal to its expenditures, and consequently loan after loan, 
sometimes direct and sometimes indirect in form, has been resorted 
to. By this means a new natioual debt has been created, and is still 
growing on us with rapidity fearful to contemplate— a rapidity only 
reasonably to be expected in time of war. This state of things has 
been produced by a prevailing unwillingness either to incrcLise the 
tariff or to resort to direct taxation. But the one or the other must 
come. Coming expenditures must be met, and the present debt 
must be paid ; and money can not always be borrowed for these 
objects. The system of loans is but temporary in its nature, and 
must soon explode. It is a system not only ruinous while it lasts, 
but one that must soon fail and leave us destitute. As an individual 
who undertakes to live by borrowing soon tinds his original means 
devoured by interest, and, next, no one left to borrow from, so must 
it be with the Government. 

"We repeat, then, that a tariff sufficient for revenue, or a direct 
ta^, must soon be resorted to, and, indeed, we believe this alteinr.iive 

17 



is now denied by no one. But which system shall be adopted ? Some 
of our opponents, in theory, admit the propriety of a tariff sufficient 
for a revenue; but even thej"^ will not in practice vote for such a 
tariff; while others boldly advocate direct taxation. Inasmuch, 
therefore, as some of them boldly advocate direct taxation, and all 
the rest — or so nearly all as to make exceptions needless — refuse to 
adopt the tariff, we think it doing them no injustice to class them all as 
advocates of direct taxation. Indeed, we believe they are only delay- 
ing an open avowal of the system, till they can assure themselves 
that the people will tolerate it. Let us then briefly compare the 
two systems. The tariff' is the cheaper system because the duties, 
being collected in large parcels at a few commercial points, will 
require comparatively few officers in their collection; while by the 
direct tax system the land must be literally covered with assessors 
and collectors, going forth like swarms of Egyptian locusts, devour- 
ing every blade of grass and other green thing. 

"By this system (the protective) the man who contents himself 
to live upon the products of his own country pays nothing at all. 
■Surely our country is extensive enough and its products abundant and 
varied enough, to a,nswer all the real wants of its people. In short, 
by the protective system the burden of revenue falls almost entirely 
upon the wealthy and luxurious few, while the substantial and labor- 
ing many who live at home and upon home products, go entirely 
free. 

" By the direct tax sj^stem none can escape. However strictly 
the citizen may 'exclude from his premises all foreign luxuries — fine 
cloths, fine silks, rich wines, golden chains and diamond rings — still 
for the possession of his house, his barn, and his homespun, he is to 
be perpetually haunted and harassed by the tax-gatherer. With 
these views we leave it to be determined whether we cr our oppo- 
nents are the more truly democratic on the subject." 

Perhaps it was iiot entirely accidental that these views 
of Mr. Lincoln fouutl almost literal expression in the Repub- 
lican National platform of 1860. Nor is it strange that this 
year, as in 1800, no chart is needed to mark the Repuhliean 
position upon this great economic question. The whole world 
knew a year in advance of its utterance what the Republican 
platform of 1800 would be, a-nd the whole world knows now, 
and has known for a year past, what the Republican platform 
of 1890 will be. 

Then the battle was to arrest the spread of slave labor 
in Amei'ica; now it is to prevent the increase of illy-paid and 

18 



-degraded free laLor m America. The platform of 1890, I 
say, is already written — written in the hearts and at the 
homes of the mah^ses of our countrymen. It has been thovight 
out around hundreds of thousands of American firesides — 
literally wrought out, by the new conditions and harsh expe- 
riences of the past three years. 

On the great questions still unsettled, or in dispute be- 
tween the domin,'.int parties, we stand now just as we did in 
1860, for Republican principles are unalterable. On the sub- 
ject of protection to American labor and American interests 
w;^e can re-affirm, and will re-affirm, the Lincoln platform of 
1860. It needs neither amendment nor elaboration. Indeed, 
we could begin the platform of 1896 in the exact words with 
"which the fathers of the Republican party began the plat- 
iorm of 1860. Its first plank, you will remember, reads as 
follows : 

" Jieso/vei/, That the history of the Nation during the last four 
years has fully established the propriety and necessity of the organ- 
ization and perpetuation of the Kepublican party, and that the causes 
which called it into existence are permanent in their nature, and 
now, more than ever before, demav.d its peaceful and constitutional 
triumph." 

This was sai-d near the close of the last Democratic Ad- 
ministration, which for a time controlled all branches of the 
National Government. With what truth it applies to the 
present Democratic Administration which for two years fol- 
lowing March 4, 1893, again had control of all branches of 
the National Government. 

Now let me read the Lincoln platform on the taritf, 
adopted on May 17, 1860, by the second Republican National 
Convention, and I submit whether it does not express the 
sentiment of the great majority of the people of Illinois, and 
of the whole country, even better to-day than it did then. 
Here is what it said: 

" Resolved, That while providing revenue for the support of the 
General Government by duties on imports, sound policy requires such 
an adjustment of these imports as to encourage the development of 
the industrial interests of the whole country; and we commend that 
policy of National exchanges which secure? to the workingmen liberal 

19 



wages, to ae:ricultuie remunerative prices, to mechanics and manu- 
facturers an julequate reward for their skill, labor and enterprise, 
and to the Nation commercial prosperity and independence." 

Better protection no Republican could ask or desire; and 
poorer none should advocate or accept! We are faithfully 
wedded to the great principle of protection by every tie of 
part}' fealty and affection, and it is dearer to us now than 
ever before. Ivot only is it dearer to us as Republicans, but 
it has more devoted supporters, among the great masses of the 
American people, irrespective of party, than at any previous 
period in our National history. It is everywhere recognized 
and endorsed as the great, masterful, triumphant, American 
principle — the key to our prosperity in business, the safest 
prop to the Treasury of the United States, and the bulwark 
of oiir National independence and financial honor. 

The question of the continuance or abandonment of our 
protective system has been the one great, overshadowing, or 
vital question in American politics ever since ]Mr. Cleveland 
opened the contest in December, 1887, to which the lamented 
James G. Blaine made swift reply from across the sea, and it 
will continue the issue until a truly American policy, for the 
good of America, is firmly established and perpetuated. The 
fight will go on, and must go on, until the American system 
is everywhere recognized, until all nations come to understand 
and respect it as distinctly, and all Americans come to honor 
or love it as dearly, as they do the American flag. God grant 
the day may soon come when all partisan contention over it 
is forever at an end! 

The Republican party is competent to carry this policy 
into effect. Whenever there is anything to be done for this 
country, it is to the Republican party we must look to have it 
done. We are not contending for any particular taViff law, 
or laws, or for any special schedules, or rates, but for the- 
great principle — the American protective policy — the tempo- 
rary overthrow of which has brought distress and ruin to^ 
every part of our beloved country. 

It may be asked what the next Republican tariff law will 
provide. I cannot tell you. I cannot tell you what the sched- 

20 



ules and rates will be, but they will measure the difference 
between American and European conditions — and will, 
moreover, be fully adequate to protect ourselves from the in- 
vasion of our markets by Oriental products to the injur}^ of 
American labor — and will in no case be too low to protect 
and exalt American labor, and promote and increase Ameri- 
can production, 

I can not better answer this grave inquiry than by an 
illustration of Mr. Lincoln's. Someone asked him, "How 
long a man's legs ought to be." He said: " That is a very 
serious question; and I have given much thought to it a great 
many times. Some should be longer and some shorter; but I 
want to tell you that a man's legs ought always to be l©ng 
enough to reach from hi§ body to the ground." And so I 
tell you, my inquiring free trade friend, that the legs of the 
next Republican tariff law will be long enough to firmly sup- 
port the American body politic; sustain the public Treasury; 
lift up our National credit; and uphold the dignity and in- 
dependence of American labor, and the enterprises and occu- 
pations of the American people. 

No one need be in any doubt about what the Repviblican 
party stands for. Its own history makes that too palpable 
and clear to admit of doubt. It stands for a reunited and 
recreated Nation, based upon free and honest elections in 
every township, county, city, district and State in this great 
American Union. It stands for the American fireside, and 
the flag of the Nation. It stands for the American farm, the 
American factory and the prosperity of all the American 
people. It stands for a Reciprocity that reciprocates, and 
which does not yield up to another country a single day's 
labor that belongs to the American workingman. It stands 
for international agreements which get as much as they give, 
upon terms of mutual advantage It stands for an exchange 
of our surplus home products for such foreign products as we 
consume but do not produce. It stands for the reciprocity of 
Blaine; for the reciprocity of Harrison; for the restoration 
and extension of the principle embodied in the reciprocity 

21 



provision of the Republican tariff of 1890. It stands for a 
foreign policy dictated by and imbued with a spirit that i& 
genuinely American; for a policy that will revive the National 
traditions, and restore the National spirit which carried us. 
proudly through the earlier years of the century. It standa 
for such a policy with all foreign nations as will insure botli 
to us and them justice, impartiality, fairness, good faith, 
dignity and honor. It stands for the Monroe doctrine as 
Monroe himself proclaimed it, about wdiich there is no 
division whatever among the American people. It stands 
now, as ever, for honest money, and a chance to earn it by 
honest toil. It stands for a currency of gold, silver and 
paper with which to measure our exchanges that shall be as 
sound as the Government and as untarnished as its honor. 
The Republican party would as soon think of lowering the 
flag of our country as to contemplate with patience or without 
protest and opposition any attempt to d'egrade or corrupt the 
medium of exchanges among our people. It can be relied 
upon in the future as in the past, to supply our country with 
the best money ever known, gold, silver, and papery. good the 
world over. It stands for a commercial jiolicy that will 
whiten every sea with the sails of American vessels, flying the 
American flag, and that will protect that flag wherever it 
floats. It stands for a system which will give to the United 
States the balance of trade with every competing nation in 
the world. It is for a fiscal policy oppose^tl to debts and 
deficiencies in time of peace, and favors the return of the 
Government to a debt-paying, and opposes the continuance of 
a debt-making policy. 

And, gentlemen of the Marquette Club, let me tell you 
that the Republican party true to the advice and example of 
the immortal Lincoln, is going to make the campaign this year 
upon its own ground, not upon its opponent's. That is to 
say, the Republicans of the country are not going to help the 
Democratic leaders obscure the issue on which their party has 
been wrecked and the Administration stranded, by taking up 
every new incident about which a hue and cry may be raised. 

22 



On the contrary, they will not be led off by side issues, but 
they will everywhere courageously insist that the people in 
November shall judge the Administration and its party by 
their works and not by any new and boastful protestations by 
"them. They will give due credit for any sporadic outburst of 
patriotic fervor for our rights in foreign -countries that the 
Administration may choose to indulge in and rejoice that it is 
at last on the right side of a great question, which is where 
the Republicans have always been. But the Ship of State 
shall not be lured into shallow waters by false lights. No 
new-born zeal for American rights, or the National honor, 
from any quarter whatever, can raise an issue with the grand 
■old Republican party which for forty years has steadfastly 
maintained it both at home and abroad. The new convert 
belongs to our ranks, and he is welcome, but he should re- 
member that he cannot put patriotism at issue with the party 
which has been the very embodiment of patriotism from its 
birth to the present hour. 

Gentlemen of the Marquette Club, and my fellow citizens, 
let us cherish the principles of our party and consecrate our- 
selves anew to their triumph. We have but to put our trust 
in the people; we have but to keep in close touch with the 
people; we have but to hearken to the voice of the people, as 
it comes to us from every quarter; we have but to paint on 
-our banners the sentiment the people have everj^where ex- 
pressed at every election during the last three years, 
*^ Patriotism, Protection and Prosperity'" — to win another most 
glorious and decisive Republican National victory. 

The greatest names in American history are Washington 
^nd Lincoln. One is forever associated with the independ- 
ence of the States and formation of the Federal Union; the 
other with universal freedom and the preservation of that 
Union. Washington enforced the Declaration of Independ- 
ence as against England: Lincoln proclaimed its fulfillment 
not only to a down-trodden race in America, but to all people 
for all time, who may seek the protection of our flag. These 
illustrious men achieved grander results for mankind within 

23 



a ningle century — from 1775 to 1865 — than any other men 
ever accomplished in all the years since first the tlight of 
time began Washington engaged in no ordinaiy revolution. 
With him it was not who should rule, but what should rule. 
He drew his sword, not for a change of rulers upon an estab- 
lished throne, but to establish a new government, which 
should acknowledge no throne but the tribune of the people. 
Lincoln accepted war to save the Union, the safeguard of 
our liberties, and re-established it on " indestructible foun- 
dations" as forever " one and indivisible." To quote his own 
grand words: 

" Now we are contending that this Nation under God, shall have 
a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the 
people, for the people, shall not perish from tUe earth." 

Each lived to accomplish his appointed task. Each re- 
ceived the unbounded gratitude of the people of his time, 
and each is held in great and ever-increasing reverence by 
posterity The fame of each will never die. It will grow 
with the ages, because it is based upon imperishable service 
to humani.ty — not to the people of a single generation or 
countr}^, but to the whole human famil}^, wherever scatter- 
ed, forever. 

The present generation knows Washington only from 
history, and by that alone can judge him. Lincoln we 
know by history also; but thousands are still living who 
participated in the great events in which he was leader 
and master. Many of ■ his contemporaries survived him; 
some are here yet in almost ever}'- locality. So Lincoln is not 
far removed from us. Indeed, he may be said to be still 
known to the millions; not surrounded by the mists of antiq- 
uity, nor by a halo of idolatry that is impenetrable. 

He never was inaccessible to the people. Thovisands 
cany with theiu yet the words which he spoke in their hear- 
ing: thousands remember the pressure of his hand; and I 
remember, asthou;};h it were but yesterday, and thousands of 
my comrades will recall, how, when he reviewed the Army 
of the Potomac immediately after the battle of Antietam, 

2i 



his indescribably sad, thoughtful, far-seeing expression 
pierced every man's soul. Nobody could keep the people 
away from him, and when they came to him he would suffer 
no one to drive them back. So it is that an unusually large 
number of the American people came to know" this great 
man, and that he is still so well remembered by them. It 
can not be said that they are mistaken about him, or that 
they misinterpreted his character and greatness. 

Men are still connected with the government who served 
during his entire Administration. There are at least two 
Senators, and perhaps twice as many Representatives, who 
participated in his first inauguration; men who stood side by 
side with him in the trying duties of his Administration, and 
have been without interruption, in one branch or another of 
the public service ever since. The Supreme Court of the 
United States still has among its members one whom Lincoln 
appointed, and so of other branches of the Federal judiciary. 
His faithful Private Secretaries are still alive and have 
rendered posterity a great service in their history of Lincoln 
and his times. They have told the story of his life and pub- 
lic services with such entire frankness and fidelity, as to ex- 
hibit to the world " the very inner courts of his soul." 

This host of witnesses, without exception, agree as to 
the true nobility and intellectual greatness of Lincoln. All 
j)roudly claim for Lincoln the highest abilities and the most 
distinguished and self-sacrificing patriotism. Lincoln taught 
them, and has taught us, that no party or partisan can 
escape responsibility to the people; that no party advantage, 
or presumed party advantage, should ever swerve us from the 
plain path of duty, which is ever the path of honor and 
distinction. He emphasized his words by his daily life and 
deeds. He showed to the. world by his lofty example, as 
well as by precept and maxim that there are times when the 
voice of partisanship should be hushed and that of patriotism 
only be heeded. He taught that a good service done for the 
country, even in aid of an unfriendly Administration, brings 
to the men and the party who rise above the temptation of 

25 



temporary partisan advantage, a lasting gain in the respect 
and confidence of the people. He showed that such patriotic 
devotion is usually rewarded, not only with retention in 
power and the consciousness of duty well and bravely done, 
but with the gratification of beholding the blessings of relief 
and prosperity, not of a party, or section, but of the whole 
country. This, he held, should be the first and great con- 
sideration of all public servants. 

When Lincoln died, a grateful people, moved by a com- 
mon impulse, immediately placed him side by side with the 
immortal Washington, and unanimously proclaimed them the 
two greatest and best Americans. That verdict has not 
changed, and will not change, nor can we conceive how the 
historians of this or any age will ever determine what is so- 
clearly a matter of pure personal opinion as to w'hich of these 
noble men is entitled to greatest honor and homage from the 
people of America. 

A recent writer saj'^s: '' The amazing growth Lincoln 
made in the esteem of his countrymen and the world, while 
he was doing his great work, has been paralleled by the in- 
crease of his fame in the years since he died." He might 
have added that, like every important event of his life, Lin- 
coln's fame rests upon a severer test than that of an)'' oth* 
American. Never, in all the ages of men, have the acts, 
words, motives — even thoughts — of any statesman been so- 
scrutinized, analyzed, studied, or speculated upon, as his.. 
Yet from all inquirers, without distinction as to party,, 
church, section, or country, from friend and from foe alike, 
conies the unanimous verdict that Abraham Lincoln must 
have no second place in American history, and that he will 
never be second to any in the reverent affections of the 
American people. 

Says the gifted Henry Watterson, in a most beautiful,, 
truthful, and eloquent tribute to the great Emancipator: 
" Born as lowly as the Son of God, reared in penury' and 
scjualor, Avith no gleam of light nor fair surroundings, it 
was reserved for this strange being, late in life, without name 

26 



or fame, or seeming preparation, to be snatched from 
obscurity, raised to supreme command at a supreme moment, 
and intrusted with the destiny of a Nation, Where did 
Shakespeare get his genius ? Where did Mozart get his 
music ? Whose hand smote the lyre of the Scottish plow- 
man and staid the life of the German priest '? God alone, 
and as surely as these were raised by God, inspired of God 
was Abraham Lincoln; and a thousand years hence no story, 
no tragedy, no epic poem, will be filled with greater wonder 
than that which tells of his life and death. If Lincoln wa& 
not inspired of God, then there is no such thing on earth as 
Bpecial providence or the interposition of divine power in the 
affairs of men." 

My fellow citizens, a noble manhood, nobly consecrated 
to man, never dies. The Martyr to Liberty, the Emancipa- 
tor of a Race, the Savior of the only free Government among 
men, may be buried from human sight, but his deeds will 
live in human gratitude forever, 

" Great captains, with their guns and drums, 

Disturb our judgment for the hour, 
But at last silence conies ; 

These are all gone, and, standing like a tower, 
Our children shall behold his fame ; 

The kindly-earnest, brave, far-seeing man, 
Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame, 

New bir.th of oui- new soil, the first American." 



2T 



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